Being Overfat

There’s one thing that everyone seems to be afraid to talk about, and that’s being overfat. For so long, being fat has been extremely insulting and people take it very personally. In time, we’ve started saying things like ‘big boned’, ‘overweight’ and even obese – which somehow doesn’t sound so bad. The thing is though, this is a problem.

The reason this is a problem is because our levels of fat are becoming a major health crisis. People are gaining fat to the point that it’s going to lead to a number of chronic health problems and we can’t really point it out without hurting peoples feelings. We need to be able to be objective about what we’re dealing with. It’s not a weight problem, it’s a FAT problem. If I gained way too much muscle mass or bone, am I overweight? Is that going to kill me? No, we say overweight because people don’t want to hear overFAT. If we’re just honest with ourselves, it can actually help us find a solution faster. If a doctor or health practitioner (or trainer) points out that you have too much body fat, then we need a plan to burn fat, not ‘weight’.

Too much Body Fat

Weight is water, bone, organ, skin, muscle, etc., and we don’t need to get rid of that. It’s that simple. Being overfat doesn’t have to be an insult, it just simply means that for various reasons, you’ve allowed too much fat to build on your body. This has no character attachment. This isn’t an insult, it’s a fact. The reason this is so important is that your body fat levels can actually affect your endocrine system. This means that body fat can actually produce hormones. The important take home message is that your body fat levels are not just about aesthetics, but they can change your physiology in so many ways (mostly bad). This is why it’s very important to get your body fat percentage tested, and then undertaking a plan for Burning Fat.

In a recent paper on Frontiers, Dr. Maffetone and Prof. Laursen wrote about being Overfat and Underfat. You can also hear them discussing it on the Elite HRV Podcast, where they get into a few more topics.

Elite HRV podcast

I highly suggest reading and listening to the above material. The fact of the matter is, you should be comfortable and happy no matter how much fat you have, BUT, that doesn’t mean you should be complacent and accepting though. You can still have a plan to improve your health and also be happy at the same time. Obesity/”overfatness” not only affects individual lives, but systemically it has an effect on our healthcare, taxes and society as a whole. We have a serious problem as a society and the last thing we need is to “accept” that we’re big and be happy with it.